The Ship Management - Essay Example

Ship management From time immemorial, the success or failure of an organization or any other human activity depends on the role, the leader plays andin the case of shipping Management Company, it depends on the role the Business Manager plays. The leader is the one who can lead humans under him/her to ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’. That is, Organization is an organized human activity. Organized human activity’ in the sense, ever since our origination, we humans have been showing activeness both mentally and physically, which have transformed our globe from a primitive one to an advanced one. So, if organized or planned activity is carried out with precision, the organization will be a success. But, precision in organizing or planning cannot be done without the initiatives of the workers, departments and the all-important leader. Each human is different from one another having different characters, attitudes, education, background etc, etc…And the unison of these different humans under a single organization to reach a target is, and will always be a difficult proposition. But, if common and winnable working culture along with winnable team with common goals is ‘operationalised’, the organization will be a success story. And, the script for the success story could only be scripted by an effective leader. “Leadership is based on a spiritual quality; the power to inspire, the power to inspire others to follow” (Lombardi). And this paper will discuss how a Business manager in a shipping Management Company plays the leadership role and takes care of the important duty of social responsibility. Also, this paper will analyze how a new Port development could influence the external environment in which they operate. How have the social responsibilities of ship management business managers changed over the years? What now is a major part in their business policies? In every ship management companies, the concept of social responsibility should be a vital certainty. Certainty in the sense, it is not a compulsion on the part of ship management company to imbue social responsibility in their policies, strategies and goals. But, if it were added, it would function as a right ingredient changing the lives of not only the beneficiaries but as the well as the organization. Even though, social responsibility is a general term it has great meanings and greater impacts. That is, social responsibility is the word that is used when an organization is obligated to do something beneficial, which should cater to all the people in the society excluding its workers. So, ship Management Company has to find ways to initiate plans to cater to the common people in the society. They could do this by organizing separate actions or events that will fulfill its social responsibility. Or the ship management companies could do this, by integrating certain policies or rules into their setup, which apart from helping the organization in smooth and effective functioning, also helps to fulfill its social responsibility. “It is worth stressing that being socially responsible means not only complying with relevant legislation, but also going beyond compliance and investing more than required into human capital and the relations with stakeholders” (Fafaliou, Lekakou and Theotokas) Nowadays, Management of vessels is getting tougher even more because of the omnipresent media which plays the eye and mouth of the cynical public and due to increased regulations. And, these factors apart from making the management tougher have worked as catalyst to initiate social changes. That is, as mentioned above, the concept of social responsibility is not a compulsion on the part of the shipping industry and its managers. So the older companies, which operated ships during the absence of these media and regulations, had no such compulsions. These ship management companies and its business managers had no such obligations and allowed pollution to continue and did not care much for the society. Also, they just concentrated on running the ships without any attempt to diversify into CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). The mindset of the business managers of that time was, they questioned the need for Social responsibility for shipping companies because ships mostly operate in isolation in far away waters of the world. That is, the view of the shipping managers is that, as the ship does not operate in the vicinity or living area of a large number of people, there is no need to cater to them. But as the media starting making its presence, the people in the vicinity of the shipping operations got to know more than they knew about shipping. That is, how the improperly maintained ships could cause anything from deaths to sea creatures to threats to human lives. Firstly, if the shipping companies does not periodically test the physical capabilities of the ship before it leaves into the sea, it can lead to catastrophe like drowning or sinking of the whole ship. Then, with the development of this world, the need for oil became a never-ending thing and ships only supplied this oil to all the countries in the world. But, due to events which could be triggered by nature or due to the faults of the shipping companies, the oil may get spilled, leading to the destruction of the environment, particularly sea environment and its inhabitants. Other threat from ships could come in the form of harmful chemicals emitted during breaking of the ship. So all these threats of ships, initiated major changes in the functioning of the shipping management companies and its business managers. The business managers understanding the serious nature of the problem put their minds to come up with strategies that can overcome this negative fallout. And, the important tool they got is the concept of social responsibility. That is, to nullify this image and create a favorable image for the shipping management companies in the minds of the people, they started concentrating on social responsibility. So, these reasons only forced a change in the positive direction in the sector of social responsibility. And to show this social responsibility, the business managers integrated certain policies in the shipping management’s overall strategy. As mentioned before they can do this firstly by organizing separate events or actions like donations, giving aid to patients etc, etc- all these will fulfill its social responsibility. Or by integrating certain policies or rules like MARPOL into their setup, which apart from helping the organization in smooth and effective functioning, also helps to fulfill its social responsibility. And the many shipping management companies and its business managers as part of their business policy of showing the social responsibility are conducting events. And in this section we can look how one of the major shipping Management Company and its business manager are carrying out certain activities to fulfill their social responsibility. And for example we take a look at the initiatives of Riverlake, a Swiss independent company created and registered in Geneva in 1985. “Besides our shipping activities we are concerned about social responsibility.” This is how Riverlake started specifying the activities in the field of social responsibility in their web site in the page DNA> Our Values. And, as we discussed earlier in the paper of how this emphasis of social responsibility is a recent phenomenon brought about by certain changes in the modern day world, Riverlake initiatives also started recently and followed a good thought process of helping the needy by cutting our own extravagance. “We have decided several years ago to make efforts in supporting various foundations. We simply think that it is our social responsibility to assist people in need. Over the last year we have opted not to spend money arranging the traditional Christmas presents to our clients, nor sending cards. Instead we spend the money assisting different foundations”(Riverlake). And in their initiatives to make themselves socially responsible, they concentrated mainly on the children. “Riverlake supports the following foundations on a regular basis: Théodora and Planètes Enfants Malades. These foundations have set themselves the mission of making life better for children in hospital or in specialised institutions. On a spot basis Riverlake has supported some other foundations such as Esperanza. They are private non profit organisations formally recognised by governmental structures…The foundation Theodora organises the visit of clowns in hospital with the target to soften with smiles the pain of the hospitalised children.” So, these activities of the shipping management companies will attach a tag of socially responsible organization. The ship management companies became more socially responsible in the 1990’s after the implementation of rules and regulations to control pollution. As pollution specifically marine pollution caused by shipping companies may affect people on large scale, it would compromise the social responsibility of them. So, MARPOL regulations are made the major part of theirs business policies. The new MARPOL Annex VI requires a global cap in the sulphur content (Sox) and nitrous oxide (Nox) content in the fuel oil. That is, the fuel used in ships should have only 4.5% m/m sulphur in it. (IMO.org) Alternatively, ships must fit an exhaust gas cleaning system or use any other technological method to limit SOx emissions. New installations containing ozone-depleting substances are prohibited on all ships. There are a variety of technologies to reduce shipping emissions of air pollution that are available in the market. Such technologies include in-engine modifications, water-based technologies such as humidification and emulsified fuel, after-treatment technologies such as selective catalytic reduction (SCR) and seawater scrubbing, and improvements in fuel quality (catf.us). And, if all these technologies are integrated into a ship, the requirements for the proper implementation of the regulations could be achieved. And it is important because, NOx and Sox, are associated with premature death due to heart attacks and lung cancer as well as atherosclerosis, stroke and permanent respiratory damage (westcoastdiesel.org). Then, ozone depletion, caused by the secondary atmospheric reactions of Nox, affect the human by letting the dangerous ultra violet rays and causing cancer. From the environmental assault point of view, the emissions destroy nature in the form of acid rain, crop damage and regional haze. So, if the shipping management companies and its business manager follow these regulations the element of social responsibility will be fulfilled. Explain how a new Container Terminal/Port Development may cope with or influence the external environment in which they operate. Give relevant examples of external environments From ancient times, the role of Port in the overall development of our world cannot be denied be. Actually, Ports only played the major role in all aspects from discovering new lands to helping people to find fresh pastures. Even though the ships garner all the credits, Ports role is also significant. And the by-product of using the Port in ancient days itself is, most Ports are continuing its existence even today with only certain additions and introductions. That is, yesteryear Ports are only modernized by adding equipment like cranes, loading machines etc. But even with this equipment the full functionality of the Port is restricted in some areas. And the reason for that restriction is lack of spaces in the existing ports. That is, with increasing competition in the world trade, the capacity of the ships also got augmented which in turn is putting more pressure on ports. So, the Port authorities are also pressurized to provide the necessary space, infrastructure and facilities as demanded by shipping companies as well as the land-based costumers. For that, developing the port on a larger scale is the only option. That is, the increasing need for larger land area, deeper berths and facilities to station bigger ships can be accommodated with the development of the port but the main bone of contention will be the potential for greater environmental damage. So, the accepted notion is Port development involves issues associated with both construction as well as the demolition, that may occur both on land and at sea. When both these happen the external environment at its vicinity will get influenced or impacted both in the positive way as well as in the negative way. The external environments that will be visible in the Port area are water, sea floor, air, settlements, development site itself, the entire coast and the whole marine ecology. Firstly, the development of the port will affect the encompassing water near it. That is, even though that water’s usability is limited damaging or polluting that water will cause tremendous damage to the sea creatures and its ecosystem. As the development of a Port involves using lot of heavy machineries, the smooth environment could be shredded and destroyed by these machines. The dredging machine that will be initially used will cause deposition of rubble; sand compaction and re suspension of sediments. All these will result in turning the crystal clear water to turbid water. This turbidity also reduces sunlight penetration, which will be detrimental to the ecosystem surviving in the sea floor from plankton to corals. Drainage of muddy water from concrete works could also affect the quality of water in a wasteful way. And, when one looks at the Sea floor, it will also be subjected to destruction. That is, the sea floor could be calmest places in the world with no disturbances, but the construction work and the resultant dredging would surely disturb the bottom sediments and can cause dispersal of the sediments. And importantly but disastrously dredging of the sea floor will totally remove the bottom habitat and the ecosystem leading to the destruction of many creatures from fishes to the rare coral reefs. Air, one of the important components of external environment also gets influenced by this development of port. That is, air in the vicinity of the port would get polluted by the materials that is used in the construction like cement particles, tar materials etc. And due to this muddiness in the air the visual quality of a project area will be affected. The sylvan natural settings of the port will be compromised and it will show the port as kind of industrialization site. And finally the workers may also have breathing problems in this polluted atmosphere. Even though most ports will be in an isolated area away from the human settlements or no people may settle near in the Port area, there may be some exceptions. That is, from ancient times, human settlements have formed near an activity area like the port. But at time Port is just a landmark with no cause for disturbance. But nowadays, human settlements near a port or near the port, which is being developed, will have face lot of hardships. One of the main concerns is, while developing or building or expanding a port, the human settlements are often required to be relocated. This may cause lot of friction because they would be living there for many years, even generations and if suddenly the asked to move in the guise of the Port development will be a rude shock to them and frictions may arise between them and the port development authorities. . Wastes that accumulate from the process of construction activities will spoil the whole development site itself. That is, the construction or development process involves lot of raw materials and as all these material are not fully used, some of them will be dumped in the site itself. And, this will cause destruction of the limited vegetation that may be found in the port development sites. That is, due to the nearness to the sea and sea sand, most plants may not grow and even if the grown few plants are destroyed it will be unfortunate. Apart from the loss of vegetations, the dumping of materials will cause leakage of contaminated materials and salt and the resultant odor will give an unsightly view and other nuisances to the local community. (Www.unescap.org) Even though the development of port will be concentrated on one area, its repercussions on the environment could be found on the entire coasts. That is, dredging which will be carried out on the site will actually create a kind of ripple effect causing damage to the coast up to a considerable distance. That is, the dredging may cause changes in current patterns and flows of the sea current, which may become detrimental to the whole ecosystem of the coastal region. And when the overall marine ecology is taken into consideration it also get affected or influenced by the disturbances in the construction activities. The marine ecology, which consist ever thing from, fishes to kingfisher, that feeds on the fishes. And all these things would get a rough treatment due the port development activities. Finally, both the organization like shipping Management Company and the leader like business manager should not stagnate and saturate like an oil spill. He/she should learn a lot like the full MARPOL regulations and utilize the learning in the management of the shipping company. And, Schein (2004, p.418) pushes forward the idea “that the leader of the future must be a perpetual learner. So, Unison of humans with an urge to usher an organization into a leading ‘utopia’ will be a successful endeavor, if the leader of the organization show undaunted, unabated and unabashed conduct. And, in this case, if the business manager shows all the good leadership traits and importantly some social responsibility, the organization would have a ubiquitous presence all over the world. Reference: catf.us. Imo. Available from http://www.catf.us/press_room/20061113-2-11-FOEI.pdf. [Accessed 18th March 2007] Fafaliou, Lekakou, M and Theotokas, J. Corporate social responsibility in Greek Shipping. Available from http://www.eclac.cl/transporte/perfil/iame_papers/proceedings/Fafaliou_et_al.doc [Accessed 18th March 2007] IMO.org. Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships. Available from http://www.imo.org/Environment/mainframe.asp?topic_id=233 [Accessed 18th March 18, 2007 Lombardi, Vince. Quotationspage. Available from. about.com/od/stillmorefamouspeople/a/VincentLombard2.htm – 20 [Accessed 18th March 2007] River Lake Shipping. DNA> Value. Available from https://www.riverlake.ch/pages/mission.php [Accessed 18th March 2007] Schein, E. H. (2004). Organizational Culture and Leadership, By: Edgar Schein, 3rd. ed. 2004, Jossey-Bass westcoastdiesel.org. Introduction to Ship Emissions. Available from www.westcoastdiesel.org/files/sector- marine/MEPC%20Reduction%20Options.doc [Accessed 18th March 2007] Unescap.org. Environmental Impacts of Port Development. Available from www.unescap.org/ttdw/Publications/TFS_pubs/Pub_1234/pub_1234_ch2.pdf Read More